According to its website, Dr. B’s Berry Farm on Wildwood Road in Boistfort distributes berries to produce giant Dole, among several others throughout the country. In a YouTube video, General Manager Richard Arancibia says with equipment updates, the farm can pack more than 6,000 pounds of blueberries per hour.
According to Lewis County Parcels, the business owns more than 800 acres of agricultural land in Boistfort. How many people could it take to run a farm that large, especially during the peak harvest season?
Arancibia, when reached by The Chronicle, claimed just “between five and six” people live and work there full-time, and said the farm is set up for just six dwelling units.
“Five or six people run the entire farm?” a reporter asked.
The call cut out. Arancibia sent a text, “sorry but the signal is bad.” Over text, he claimed three people live at Dr. B’s throughout the year and four are seasonal workers.
Concerns over how many people live at the farm and others like it were raised in a recent Lewis County Board of Health meeting. Lewis County Public Health & Social Services Director Meja Handlen isn’t the first to voice concerns on the state Department of Health regulations for migrant farm workers, nor were the county residents who she said originally brought the issue to her attention.
Dr. B’s farm has long been the subject of locals’ suspicions. Much to Handlen’s concern, the county has no authority to ensure workers are housed in safe, adequate housing units because the businesses and others like it fall under the state’s purview.
“Lewis County does not see these building permits, so we do not know when the housing units actually come into our county,” said Environmental Health Manager Kristen Wecker in a recent meeting with the county Board of Health.
While the county is then called in to inspect water at the original establishment of the site, Wecker said, farms thereafter are allowed to expand housing units without additional inspections. From what they know, she said, the number of residents the farm has housing to accommodate is closer to 120.
“It is unclear. I do not know how many individuals are there,” Wecker said. “There might be more.”
Wecker said in the meeting that, according to Boistfort Valley Water Corporation, the farm reported having 70 individuals living there in the peak harvest season. The water system also said the farm would not have enough hookups for even 70 residents, according to Wecker. Boistfort Valley Water, a private nonprofit water system, declined to comment on the farm or independently confirm those resident totals.
A spokesperson for the water system did say the farm is owned by a company called BRGG Holdings Inc.
Handlen said while the topic was brought up in relation to the Boistfort farm, her biggest issue with the state’s process for permitting is that migrant worker farms could be skirting regulations throughout Washington.
“This is kind of an example, in my opinion, of one hand not talking to the other when it is very imperative that the two talk to each other,” Handlen said. “Especially when we're talking about a vulnerable population. … This is something I personally feel very passionate about.”
In response, Commissioner Sean Swope lamented that it’s frustrating with the regulations residents go through to build and maintain housing in the county, that it should be easy for a farm to go through state regulations and potentially “bypass” rules to keep living arrangements “up to par.”
Wecker emphasized that it remains unclear whether the farm is breaking rules, but she has an appointment with the state Department of Health to delve into these concerns, which is scheduled for next week, according to Handlen.
Look for a followup story in The Chronicle on this topic as more information becomes available.
